Department of Agriculture January 23, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is reopening the comment period on the proposed rule to change the reporting of export certificate information under regulations issued pursuant to the Export Apple Act and the Export Grape and Plum Act until March 24, 2017. The proposed rule would require shippers of apples and grapes exported from the United States to electronically enter an Export Form Certificate number or a USDA-defined exemption code into the Automated Export System (AES). This rule would also define ``shipper,'' shift the current file retention requirement from carriers to shippers, and require shippers to provide, upon request, copies of the certificates to AMS. The proposed rule would also remove obsolete regulations and make clarifying changes. It also announced AMS' intention to request revision to a currently approved information collection for exported apples and grapes.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (USDA OIG) publishes this records notice to modify an existing system of records, USDA/OIG-8, the Research Aggregated Data Analysis Repository (RADAR) System, in order to update certain system information, including the system owner, and to clarify the records contained in the system and the purpose of the system.

We are advising the public that we have added the Republic of Korea to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) list maintained on the APHIS Web site of regions considered affected with contagious equine metritis (CEM). We took this action because of the confirmation of CEM in the Republic of Korea.

We are advising the public that we added Lebanon to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) list maintained on the APHIS Web site of regions considered affected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). We are taking this action because of the confirmation of HPAI detection in Lebanon.

We are advising the public of our preliminary concurrence with the World Organization for Animal Health's (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designations for seven regions. The OIE recognizes these regions as being of negligible risk for BSE. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE's risk designations for these regions.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations that provide for the payment of compensation to owners of commercial stone fruit orchards and fruit tree nurseries whose trees or nursery stock were destroyed to eradicate plum pox virus.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request the reinstatement of an information collection associated with National Veterinary Services Laboratories diagnostic support for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy surveillance program.

The Trout Creek Project is proposed to encourage stand health, vigor, species diversity and structural complexity in the Matrix, Adaptive Management Area (AMA), and Riparian Reserves; contribute a variety of sustainable forest products to local markets; increase spatial heterogeneity, including complex early seral habitat, at a landscape scale by mimicking mixed severity fire; improve fire resiliency and strategically manage hazardous fuels in high risk areas that could adversely affect the integrity of adjacent privately owned lands, Late Successional Reserves (LSR), Matrix, AMA, and Riparian Reserve lands and to enhance hardwood habitat and diversity. Proposed activities to achieve the purpose of the project inculde forest management treatments across approximately 1,670 acres (about 4.5% of the analyzed landscape). Treatments include approximately 733 acres of variable forest thinning (including 109 acres of Riparian Reserve thinning) and approximately 101 acres of regeneration harvesting that would include aggregate retention. Additionally, approximately 370 acres of non-commercial treatments are proposed including fall and leave treatments, snag creation, underplanting of native conifers, the planting of special forest products, and the restoration of a 2-acre meadow. Road work would also be part of the actions associated with the proposed activities and would include road maintenance/reconstruction (48.5 miles), temporary road construction (4 miles), new road construction (less than 1 mile), road decommissioning (7 miles) and the expansion or establishment of 2 new rock pits.